I’ve also noticed that the concept of “zombie” is
unknown within the Walking Dead series even though
zombies are part of the mythology of various
cultures in one form or another. I don’t really
understand how using the term zombie from the
start of The Walking Dead first season could
have had a negative effect on the series. But
since they haven’t used it so far I reckon
it would be dumb to start at this point.
My favorite moment from TWD Season 5 was when Rick talked about his grandfather who had gotten through the 2nd World War by pretending he was already dead. Rick said all the survivors had become the “walking dead”. I thought it was a brilliant notion that the series title actually referred to the survivors, not the “biters”.
I’m not sure how that ties into the follow-up series, but in TWD the biggest problems have come from the living, not the dead.